The Continuing Adventures of JJ
by skabs
Summary: MiniJack was last seen walking into his new highschool, flirting with a cute girl... what happens next?
1. Chapter 1

ok, my last stargate fic wasn't reviewed on at all... i'm assuming its because i was too brilliant and before my time, right? ... i said right?

Right. anyway, this one is different, and will be updated pretty regularly considering i know what i'm doing with this one. Basically the adventures of mini-jack. i've read alot of storys on this subject that i like, but i've been stewing this one for a while. (btw- have any of you guys noticed that you can't tab over at the beginning of your paragraphs?)

once again i will state that the Stargate and its characters belong not to this humble self. i merely confiscate them toward mine own ends. Yet, alas, i get no cheery compensation for this, my dribbles. only the sorrowful call of the near-extinct reviewer can apease my suffering... hint, hint.

enjoy

* * *

The young man began moaning as the alarm resting on the side table began blaring next to his head. Swiftly his arm flung over, knocking the offending clock off the table and effectively unplugging it from the wall. Flipping over on his other side he attempted to dig his head further into his pillow, only to have another alarm interrupt his desperate attempt to forget that he had to wake up. Unfortunately he'd set this on up on the table across the room. The only way to turn it off would be to get to his feet and travel across the room to reach it. He opened one bleary green-grey eye and studied the red numbers. He suddenly recalled why he hated high school so much. He had to be up by six in the morning. 

As he stood up and ruffled his messy hair he recalled why he hated the Air Force so much. He had to be up by five am then. He shrugged and took it philosophically. They could have set him up anywhere, doing anything within his multiple range of talents; he was the one who chose to go to high school instead.

The previous day his other self had dropped him off in front of the building, today he'd have to take the bus. He snorted as he pulled a plain white t-shirt from the shelf in the closet and pulled on the khaki's he'd worn the day before. The bus had to be the most undignified way to get anywhere. He'd have to talk to the General about getting his license.

He walked into the bathroom of the apartment they'd set him up with and as he pulled his shirt over his head he flipped on the water and prepared to brush his teeth. He'd already decided that he'd forgo the experience with drills he'd been through almost two decades ago, this time he wouldn't forget to brush everyday; even if the world was about to be blown up by extraterrestrials. He stared into the mirror, once again trying to get used to the face he had suddenly acquired a couple weeks before. He checked in vain for stubble, any hair would do, and dabbed on medicated lotion. He'd fight acne till his dying breath.

"Coffee," he stumbled into the hallway and kicked his third alarm, which he'd hooked up in the entrance to the kitchen, as he inhaled the fresh aroma his timed coffee maker wafted into the air.

After eating a bowl of fruit loops and gulping down two cups of java he stamped his feet into loosely tied combat boots, grabbed a thermos of coffee and swung a back pack over one shoulder. He took a moment to grab his keys and stuff them in his leather jacket pocket before opening the front door and stepping into his first full day on his own.

* * *

The poor guy looked like he wanted to murder someone, Betsy in particular since she was the one chatting a million miles a second at the new student. 

"You know Jacky-boy…" she jumped off the bus after him as he walked away, trying to ignore her. It hadn't worked for the last two miles, but he could hope. "You're really kind of cute," she squealed as he stopped short and turned to look at her with wide eyes. She giggled; he looked cute when he got that hunted fear in his features.

"Down girl." An authoritative blond pulled up on the brunettes' curly ponytail and made Betsy pout.

"But-"

"No buts, bye." Betsy huffed off and as she left turned slightly to make sure the new girl saw that she was being flicked off.

"Whatever." Betsy bounced away and joined her friends at the steps of the front door. A whole group of them made the boy shudder.

"Any back ways into this place?" he asked the blond.

"Plenty." She replied and walked off. He followed obediently.

"I'm Jack." He smirked as she looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Carli." She replied, flipping the long bangs away from her eyes with a quick toss of her head she slowed her pace a bit to match his ambling stride. She was a head shorter than he was; her arms long and slender, skin pale against a brilliant red tank dress that fluttered appealingly around boot clad legs. She had a black sweater over one elbow, a patchwork bag slung over one shoulder and eyes that couldn't seem to decide what color they wanted to be.

She led him into a door in the side of the building, directly across from his homeroom class.

"Thanks." He held out his hand. Smirking herself she took it and shook.

"Don't mention it, Jacky-boy." Jack groaned.

"Please don't," Carli released his hand and shrugged.

"I'll see you around."

* * *

The previous day had been full up with entrance exams and a guided tour of the building. The principal was told that Jack was the son of an Air Force officer and that he was expected to excel… in the tone that implied they would find out why if he didn't. As a result the faculty was reduced to jumping through hoops until Jack indicated that he didn't need a bulldog on his tail- not that he phrased it that way. 

He made it to homeroom on time, but waited until the rest of the students had filed in until he took his seat. He could have predicted the general area, front left side, away from the door and one seat away from the window. The kid next to the window was a skinny boy, red hair blazing, his nose stuck in a book. Jack had to grin as he noticed the spine.

"Pyramids and Our Past, huh," Jack shrugged as the kid looked up, "is it any good?"

He smiled shyly and then made a motion that could have been construed as a nod, if you'd been looking for it.

"It's really very interesting. Some of the conclusions are odd, but well thought out." He peaked up at the clock and closed his book as the bell rang.

The lady who walked into the room, Miss. Lacey, could have been military; she was precise in her strides and stood at almost complete attention. She didn't even look at her list as she called off and checked names. Screaming last names, she waited for acknowledgement and a meeting of eyes before moving to the next one.

"Shore."

The red-head next to Jack nodded and smiled, her gaze went to Jack.

"You would be the new student then, Jack Jameson O'Neil?"

"With two L's, there's a Jack O'Neil with one L, and he has no sense of humor." Jack smirked and nodded when she checked off his name.

"Would you care to stand up and introduce yourself to the class." It wasn't a question, though it had been posed as one. Jack knew that tone well. Stifling a sigh he got to his feet and stood, unconsciously, in a parade rest; his hands loosely clasped behind his back, his feet a shoulder length apart, his chin up and voice firm.

"My name is Jack; my father is in the Air Force, hence the move to Colorado Springs. I hope that I can get to know you all in the time I have here, and that I can bum rides off of someone so I don't have to take the bus again." With that he was rewarded by giggles and knowing smirks, and he sat back down.

"My names Jared." The red-head whispered as the militant teacher went to the blackboard to begin the day's lesson. Jack leaned over and offered his hand. Jared blinked, but took it after a slight hesitation.

"You can call me Jack, or JJ, I'll respond to either." He looked up to check on the formula Miss. Lacey was inscribing with loving care Jack remembered from watching Carter play with her chalks. "So… you get any of this?"

"Yes, and so do you, or you wouldn't be in this class… they put you through placement right?"

"Right," Jack didn't sound so sure.

"Look, if you're still lost by the end of class I'll give you a ride home and we'll try and get you caught up."

"Sounds like a plan man." Jack once again offered his hand. Jared shook it with a shared grin, and they both turned their attention, as one, to the lady with the amazing legs.

* * *

Jack had always been a leg man. Carters had been enough to drive him to distraction most of the time he watched her working in her lab. He could stand in her doorway for half an hour before remembering what it was he wanted to ask her. And she'd always been in BDU's. Carli though seemed to like short skirts and long boots. He hadn't known she was in his Mythology class the day before, but he noticed her now, and the way her knees were bared as she crossed her legs under her desk. 

Carter had never noticed his interest, being too absorbed in the project at her hands to care who was watching her (or her legs) work. Carli glanced over, noticed his distracted gaze, leaned over and punched him hard on the arm.

"Ow." He muttered and rubbed his arm as the teacher continued to groan about Percy and Gordon. Though why a lady with snakes in her hair would be named Gordon he had no idea, and he really didn't care. He though this class might be halfway interesting if a teacher like Daniel had shown up, but instead he was reminded of his first CO. The man could suck the life out of anything appealing and reduce it to basic component parts.

Miraculously the alarm for next class started, startling half the class out of a drowse and the other out of full sleep.

"You pig." Carli muttered.

"Is it my fault you have nice legs?" Jack asked defensively, surprising Carli enough with his candor that she laughed.

"You know Jack, I might get to like you." She bumped him with her shoulder as the entered the hall.

"That'd be nice." He turned and waited for her to join him. They had the next three classes together, now that he thought about it he remembered seeing her the previous day during his tour.

"So, where're you from Jack?"

"Everywhere." The Air Force had set up his background carefully. He jumped from base to base, making it easier to fake records if he was just a Military brat following his dad everywhere. It would take a concentrated effort and a determined mind to trace Jack back to his origins, and hopefully anyone attempting to would set off several security bells in the process. So while he told Carli his concocted history and explaining his emancipated minor status, giving him the responsibility of adult hood a few years early, he stuck to the fiction that had been created for him. Carli seemed genuinely distressed by the fact that he had a "father" but didn't live with him or any of the rest of his family.

"I've only got my dad too. I couldn't imagine not being there for him, and him not being around for me. I'm sorry Jack." The bell rang for their next class, cutting of any conversation that could have followed.

* * *

please review?


	2. Chapter 2

i would like to thank you all for reviewing, and i would like you to know that i am going to address the moral issues of Jack dating... it seems like such a waste of a wonderful guy if he doesn't get to have fun though... and just to let you know, its not a mary-sue. i wish i was even a bit like Carli, she's very outgoing and artistic. personally i'm a bit withdrawn and i can only draw stick figures well. she will have flaws, and you will see them, because its more interesting that way, i'm not sure if she's going to be personally involved with Jack or not at this point. just, at the moment, enjoy, cause i have no real idea where this is going, suggestions are always welcome.- thanks

ps- i know its gorgon, and you know its gorgon. come to think of it, jack knows its gorgon too... (just smile and think "nintendos" ("no matter how dense")

* * *

ch 2

At first Jack looked at Gym class as a way to get in daily training that he would probably be too lazy to work on himself. After changing and standing in line for half an hour he yawned and wondered how the hell learning how to toss a Frisbee could be used to defend oneself.

"Maybe if there were an infestation of Frisbee goals..."

"Or jumping poodles," Jared muttered under his breath.

"Do we do this all year?"

"Running units next; until then I just sit back and let my natural coordination take over." Jack scoffed; Jared already had his turn, and had accidentally flung the Frisbee backwards and into the head of a waiting jock. Jared smirked and pushed Jack forward.

He took the plastic disk from their teacher, a dumpy woman with gray hair and a loud speaking voice, flung it toward the goal and bowed as it completed its mission in the assigned metal chains.

The whistle blew, warning that it was time to change again. The only advantage to Frisbee that Jack could see was that he wasn't sweaty enough to need a shower. He jogged back to Jared's side just in time to witness the bruised jock push his new friend to the ground. Holding his hand down to help Jared up, Jack only glared as the kid grabbed the front of his shirt and twisted to bring Jack to his toes. Looking down at the hand he quirked and eyebrow and slid his gaze up a light sprinkling of stubble, a firm frowning mouth and a zit perched precariously on a nose that had been broken several times. Looking the teenager straight in the eyes he hissed,

"You don't want to fight with me."

He blinked, suddenly not quite as certain of his superiority over the shorter classmate, but unable to back down with his friends surrounding.

"You don't want to help the freak. You're not part of this."

"Don't push around my friends. You will learn to regret it if this continues." Jack held his gaze, not threatening yet, but close to it. He was released as the whistle blew again and the dumpy gym teacher stalked forward to break them all up.

"Move it, I will not be issuing late passes. Mr. Fortifier, do we have a problem here?" She asked the jock.

"No Mrs. Porter, no problem."

"Good, I don't want to have to tell my husband to bench out his quarter-back so early in the season." She paused and made eye contact with the three jocks, "do I make myself clear?" she didn't wait for an answer, but strode back toward the school with every confidence that her word was law.

"You're lucky this time, punk." Fortifier muttered, but turned back, and walked away.

* * *

"You are insane." Jared drove a Mazda Miata, red paint and primed doors; it was a little worse for the wear. But it was a car, and Jack wasn't complaining.

"How so?" Jack scratched his head before pulling on a baseball cap.

"You picked a fight with Lance Fortifier. He's not only known as "Crusher" on the field, but off it too."

"He doesn't scare me. I know the type. Once I stand up and prove he can't beat me, he'll back off."

"He could sit on you and crush you to death." Jared pointed out, unlocking his doors before flinging his book bag into the backseat.

"Ow!" a bundle he hadn't noticed fidgeted under the blanket he kept in the car, "just-in-case."

"Carli." Jared sighed, well used to finding the girl napping in his car.

"I would be if you hadn't caused amnesia, throwing shit at my head." She sat up and smiled, "and what's this I hear about Jack being a giant-killer?"

* * *

Jack could only laugh as they pulled into his driveway. Jared and Carli had obviously been friends for a good long time; they had a version of what Carter used to call "The Jack and Daniel show". He'd watched, hopelessly clueless and mystified as to what the couple was actually saying, but the butt end of comments where interesting.

"He's just pissed because Sharlotte…"

"If you continue that sentence I'm going for the Jell-O."

"Don't threaten me with that anymore, it's not fair." Carli frowned and tapped Jared on the back of the head as he parked. She skipped from the back seat before the teen could turn around and retaliate. "Wow, you live here?"

The condominiums weren't plush, but nice enough that Jack didn't have any complaints. Besides, he had a roof garden, a place to put his telescope, which was really all he needed to be comfortable. As he unlocked the front door he was greeted with a gasp that reminded him of the other thing he needed to live.

"You like "The Simpson's" huh?" Jared took in the posters and plush figurines that had been strewed in a semi-organized way on his bookshelf, along with games, DVDs and signed pictures.

"What's life without tiny yellow people?" he asked dryly. "You want a drink?" he was parched, he really needed a Guinness. Opening the refrigerator he repressed a groan.

"You have pop?" Carli asked, ducking her head under his arm to stand in front of the open door.

"Apparently." He'd forgotten that Carter told Daniel to keep beer from his under aged lips. Carli grabbed a diet something and an orange slice for Jared. Jack vowed that he'd bribe one of the SF's as soon as he possibly could, and took a coke for the moment.

"Wow, you have an original Nintendo!" Carli laughed and grabbed a game from his shelf. Jack smiled slightly, it had been Charlie's, he'd packed it up and it had been in his closet for years. He'd taken it from his other self, on an impulse he hadn't really understood at the time. But now, watching Carli manipulate the controller he didn't feel the crushing weight of gravity around his heart. Maybe it was time, now that he had time, to really finish healing.

"Guys?" Jared brought both their attention to where he'd set up his books on Jack's coffee table.

"Right, studying," Jack smirked as Carli pouted.

"I need study tunes."

"Fine, pop something in and let's get on with this."

"Jack… how old are you?" Carli studied his CD collection. It was mostly jazz.

"I like old stuff all right?" he rolled his eyes at Jared and shared a male moment that made Carli stick her tongue out at both of them.

"Jared, toss me my purse, I'll hook up my i-pod."

* * *

Once Jack got used to the music, he had to make a conscious effort to get used to the fact that Carli was not the best study-buddy. He tore his gaze from her, she was twirling around his apartment, dancing to her music. She'd jumped up when "The Bangles" began that Egyptian song. Daniel liked that song, once Jack learned how to download ring tones he'd stolen the archaeologist's phone and set it. It brought back fond memories of Daniel jumping half out of his chair as the thing went off in his pocket, having no idea that Jack switched it.

But the girl was twirling around, her skirt fluttering around her legs, and once again Jared cleared his throat and forced Jack to pay attention. Not that the red-head hadn't noticed his friends preoccupation.

"Carli, are you going to study at all?" he asked. The song ended and she plopped down obediently, reaching over to absently fix one of Jared's equations.

"Of course, I'm always here if you need me." She smiled sweetly as Jared stuck his tongue out at her; then leaned over to explain a minor point to Jack, who finally caught on and continued the rest of his problems with ease.

"See, you do know this stuff."

"The word problems are different than the ones we get on base. It threw me off." He admitted.

"Bet you got, if your troop is pinned down under heavy fire, and you have no ammo left, how many of the enemy can you kill with rocks before being able to run to safety?" Carli scoffed and laid her head on the coffee table. Jack sighed, remembering how many times he'd been pinned under enemy fire with no ammo to speak of, and then smirked down at her.

"Something like that."

Carli lifted her head, quite sure that he was making fun of her, but had absolutely no idea as to the content. She shrugged, decided not to make a big deal out of it, and jumped to her feet.

"Five o'clock and all it well… Jared I need to go fix dinner, if you please?"

"You think you've got it Jack?" Jared asked as he began to pack his books up.

"Yes, thank you for the help." Jack got up and led them to the door.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow around seven." Jared promised; Carli leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"We'll be here to pick you up around seven." She giggled and left as Jack blinked. The last girl to kiss his cheek like that had been Cassie.

"Don't expect that from me." Jared joked and walked out, following Carli to his car.

Jack waved goodbye to them as the car disappeared around the corner.


	3. Chapter 3

thank you for reviewing. you get the next chapter because i'm an insomniac and i just started typing. so enjoy!

* * *

Ch 3

Carli lived with her father in a split level that was mostly full of furniture from the seventies. Not that she minded the plush green shag carpet in the living room, or the brown tiled floors in the kitchen, but after seeing how white and clean everything looked in a new apartment she did sigh a little.

Then, turning to the couch and the sleeping occupant she smiled a little and flung her book bag on the easy chair in the corner. The TV was on an infomercial about some spit turning grill thing, and the tousled brown hair on the couch twitched as the audience clapped vigorously over a chicken being cooked in five minutes.

"Sanders…" a deep voice muttered. Carli chuckled, knowing that her fathers dream now included short southern men in white suits and probably dancing chicken legs. Walking past the slumbering hulk she tapped a framed photo hanging on the hall wall, saying hello to her mother before going into her room and changing into ripped jeans and an oversized t-shirt. She descended the stairs, hopping and carefully avoiding the ones that creaked, before grabbing the remote from the coffee table and turning off the television.

Her father grunted, and then turned over at the sudden stillness.

"Carl?" he mumbled.

"Yeah dad?" she lowered her voice and giggled when he opened his eyes and glared at her. His eyes were a piercing blue, like the sky and his frown was habitual instead of indicative of anything.

"Carli, darling…" he smirked as he grabbed her hand and tugged her closer to kiss her cheek before sitting up.

"Dinner will be ready in half and hour," she hugged his head as he yawned and twirled around to enter her kitchen. "How does fried chicken sound to you?"

* * *

Carli yawned as she hopped into Jared's car, buckled up absently and turned her head toward Jared, her head cushioned on the seat, her eyes instantly closed.

"Tired?" Jared joked, as he did every morning, and then leaned across his friend's body to pull the lever to drop the seat back down. Carli just shifted and nodded. When he first got the car, and began noticing the opposite sex, this habit of Carli's had given him a few turns. But in the years he'd known the girl she'd never hinted at any relationship except friendship, and Jared wasn't an idiot. Carli was a girl who flittered from boyfriend to boyfriend. Never getting serious, never really investing her feelings in any of them. Jared decided that he'd rather be her friend, and have her genuinely care about him, than having her fleeting affection. Before he'd known it, they'd become almost inseparable, like the sister he wished he had. He never regretted his decision, and could look at her now as someone he liked to spend time with and protect.

As he pulled up to Jacks condo, he could only guess what kind of relationship his sister would have with the guy. For some reason, he thought as Jack closed and locked his front door, he didn't think that Jack would get the typical reaction from his sleeping friend. He was different, it was in his eyes.

"Hey Jack." Jared nodded as the teen got into his backseat. "Didn't know you wear glasses?"

"Contacts were bugging me." Jack shrugged; he'd spent most of the night awake, lying and staring at his ceiling, trying to figure out his new role in life. Not that it was unusual for him to turn insomniac, but he was starting to get tired of asking himself the same questions. Behind his glasses his eyes where brown. Carli noticed as she stared up at him.

"You wear colored contacts?" she asked, amazed that the down-to-earth guy would even think about it. Jack looked down at her, with her head practically in his lap he smirked. He'd always enjoyed under-cover work, though he did prefer the go-in-and-blow-the-hell-out-of-it approach when asked, the contacts were fun.

"Yeah, I like fooling around with things like that."

"So Spring-fling is coming up." Carli changed the subject entirely.

"So?" Jack asked, amused with the flighty conversational skills. It reminded him of himself when he was trying to wheedle information out of someone. This time his eyes went to Jared.

"Yeah, so?" Jared tried to shrug off the comment, like it was a question poised directly above his head, ready to jump down and bite him.

"So I heard that Sharlotte turned down Bruiser." Carli shrugged, "there's a rumor going around that she told her friends she was hoping someone would ask her, and she's not going to say yes to anyone else." She wiggled in her seat, blinked furiously at Jack, and closed her eyes, seemingly dosing.

"So…" Jack leaned back and looked at the rear-view mirror, well aware that Jared was blushing, and then looking back at him.

"So what?" he asked defensively.

"Is Sharlotte that cute blond in math class?"

* * *

Jared sat, scared as a virgin in a frat house, glancing over at Sharlotte from the corner of his eye. Every once in a while he'd catch the corner of her eye looking over at him, she'd smile and he'd look away. They were both called over to the board to correct a problem using two different methods. Sharlotte dropped her chalk, Jared bent down to pick it up and as she took it from him histraitorous mouth opened.

"Would you go to Spring-Fling with me?" his voice cracked nervously, the entire class paused, waiting breathlessly for an answer. Sharlotte smiled slowly, blushing attractively before leaning over to kiss his cheek.

"Sure," she said, "I'd love to."

Jared felt his cheeks turn a violent shade of red as the class erupted in howls and chants and chuckles. Somehow he made it back to his chair, not even bothering to dodge the punches thrown at his arms in congratulations, before his legs gave out under him.

"Good job!" Jack could feel pride in his contribution; he'd ragged on Jared for four days before the kid had the courage to ask. This time when Jared looked at Sharlotte he turned his head and smiled, she smiled back and the teacher howled for attention. The rest of the class was anti-climatic, but the nudging and hair tousling continued out in the hall. Girls surrounded Sharlotte and carried her away in that special "girl-clutch" as Jack was starting to call it, and the guys dispersed after the usual ragging. Carli ran up behind them and jumped on Jared's back.

"Finally!" she crowed.

"How do you know everything?" Jared asked, surprised seeing as how Carli had been on the other end of the school and it hadn't even been ten minutes.

"Her spy-network," Jack said confidently, and considering that the network was already set up, he'd appropriated it for his own use. "And speaking of dances, I heard that our darling Carli turned down Bruiser as well. That guy is not having any luck."

"He grabbed me and told me I'd be going with him." Carli scoffed, then grabbed Jacks arm as he turned to hunt down the bully-brained moron. "I kicked him in the shin, you don't have to avenge me my masked rider." She tugged his jacket and he stopped.

She'd noticed a more than a few instincts in him that seemed to be geared toward protecting those he saw of as "his". Not that she minded his protectiveness; he was just going to have to learn that she could take care of herself.

Seeing Bruiser limping into the cafeteria even Jack had to admit that Carli had a way about her.

* * *

Lance "Crusher" Fortifier was once again standing in Jack's way; this time with Bruiser and Pete standing behind him, forming a solid wall of muscle. Jack could hear the bets being taken behind him, and according to the odds, he hadn't a chance. Jack sighed and shook his head.

"You really want to get out of my way Lance." He didn't move, just waited for the inevitable…

"You can't make me," and then the cliché cracking of knuckles; all that was missing was the maniacal laughter, and Pete really couldn't carry that off.

"I could make, I just choose not to. Now please move." He'd used that tone in a room full of pilots, even in his seventeen year old body; they'd straightened and begun listening. But that took into account that the pilots had been trained to respond to that tone. Lance and his buddy's were just thugs, petty morons, and while they recognized the tone, they didn't respond to it correctly. With kids surrounding them in the hall, the three jocks couldn't back away without a fight. Rolling his eyes Jack handed his books to a kid standing behind him, ran up and kicked Lances ankle before jumping to smash his fist under Bruiser under the chin, ducking under Pete's swinging arm he managed to trip him up and fell him over Bruiser who was now moaning on the floor. Lance turned around with a snarl that turned into a pained yelp as Jack grabbed his nose between his middle and forefingers.

"Stop trying to pick a fight with me. I don't want to hurt you, and you're better off without making me angry. Do we understand each other?" he asked in a perfectly reasonable voice as Lance's eyes teared. He yelped again as Jack tightened his grip, waiting for a response.

"Yeah!" he whined. Jack released him, but didn't turn away. He'd learned that lesson well. Well enough in fact that the slight change in the audience, a slight holding of breath, warned him to duck. Pete's punch missed Jack completely and plowed straight into Lance's nose.

"Move it!" the authoritative command of Miss. Lacey. A tunnel devoid of students lead her straight to the confrontation zone, where Pete was still frozen, his arm outstretched in shock. Bruiser was rolling on the floor, still a little dazed, and Lance was knocked out cold.

"BOHICA." Jack groaned. Miss. Lacey had already warned him about fighting in school, when he had turned in his desk one day to glare daggers at the jock, who'd been throwing shit at him all day.

"Mr. O'Neill, may I ask just what the problem is?" he demanded as he looked down at the carnage.

"We were having a philosophical discussion on violence in our schools ma'am. I believe Bruiser, Crusher and Pete became over emotional and accidentally knocked themselves out." He'd thrown his shoulders back and eyed the ceiling, feeling very much like a cadet in the woman's glare.

Of course, even as a cadet he'd been a smart-ass.

"Well maybe we can take this philosophical discussion to the principal's office." Taking Jacks arm she instructed several of the other students to help the other three to the nurse's office. "Pete, I'll be talking to you and your friends soon. Don't leave the clinic, do you understand?"

"Yes Miss. Lacey," Pete straightened and glared at Jack. Jack could only sigh and hope his lecture would be over quickly.

* * *

BOHICA- military acronym meaning... Bend Over, Here It Comes Again


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

"What do you mean I can't call his parents in for a conference?" Miss. Lacey was not happy, she held herself straight, but crossed her arms. Jack could see all this from his seat in the secretary's office as the principal spoke with his math teacher. He couldn't hear what was being said, but he applauded the principal; who reminded him of a cross between Mario and Luigi as not being to fat or too thin, but impeccably Italian, for staying calm in the face of such indignation.

"Young Jack has emancipated minor status, Miss. Lacey. Even if we did call his father in for a conference I doubt the Colonel would oblige."

"That brat manages to live on his own?" If Jack had heard Miss. Lacey's opinion of him, he'd have stuck out his tongue as she twirled to stare at him through the window separating the two rooms.

"He has a trust fund set up through the United States Air Force. He only answers to himself. So if you want to punish him for standing up for himself…"

"Mr. Beagle, I've told you before, violence in schools is a major problem and should be addressed as such!" Miss. Lacey was a defender of the underdog, and having one kid beat up another kid, no matter what the provocation involved, was something she'd decided to put a stop to.

"I will leave his punishment up to you Miss. Lacey, if you are so inclined, though you might ask yourself why three large strapping boys were in a fight with a classmate who is much smaller than they are." If Jack had heard that comment he would have protested.

"Mr. Beagle…"

"I don't condone violence in this, or any other, school either, Miss. Lacey, and you would do well to remember that. Yet I would suggest that you go easy on the boy. I have a feeling he went easy on the three whose parents I do have to call. It could have been a lot worse."

* * *

"So I have to write a paper on why violence in a civilized society is no longer socially acceptable, and I have to apologize to Bruiser, Lance and Pete." 

"Do they have to apologize to you?" Carli asked as she slid her milk carton to Jack. Absently he took it and opened it, before handing it back.

"I don't know."

"I heard they're still in the nurse's office." Jared chuckled.

"Jack!" a mighty squeal was heard from miles away as Betsy bounced down the hall. Jack grabbed Carli's arm and whispered furiously in her ear.

"HELP!"

She'd been the never ending thorn in Jack's side since the day she talked his ear off on the bus. For some reason the girl thought he'd care about whether or not her hair was "bouncy" that day. He wasn't mean to her, because she knew everything that had happened during the day, and she was an irrepressible gossip. No information gathering was needed; he just had to endure the giggling for a few minutes before she got to the juicy stuff. But he had that awful sinking feeling that said today, he was the juicy stuff.

Carli stuffed a chuckle down her throat and wrapped her arm around Jacks shoulders as he turned to give Betsy a stiff grin.

"Hey Betsy… I didn't know you ate lunch this period."

"I don't," she waved off, "I just heard from Bridget, who heard from Linda who found out from Peggy, that you were in a fight today!"

"Um… yeah," he wasn't given the chance to say anymore as the bouncy brunette was suddenly on his knee.

And then off it as Carli gave the cheerleader's ponytail a good yank. Betsy turned to protest and was met with an icy stare.

"I would prefer it if you kept off my boy." Jack had to swallow a protest of his own as Betsy protested loudly.

"Ch-yeah right!"

"Yeah, right Jack?" Carli turned a Cheshire grin toward him, and he choked down whatever comment he'd been about to make. He merely turned to Betsy and nodded.

"Uh-huh." Jack could hear Jared snorting like a pig behind them, but ignored it as Betsy turned several interesting shades of pissed off.

"Now scurry along now before the bathroom pass expires." Carli waved her along, grabbed Jacks arm and turned him back toward the table. "Bye Betsy."

* * *

Jack was still turning the lunch scene over in his head as the two dropped him off after school. Jared and Carli had just laughed over Betsy's indignation the rest of the period. But Jack was dumbfounded; teenagers these days where so much moodier and… insane than he remembered from his first time around. 

He'd almost choked on his tuna-fish when Carli turned to him and casually slipped in,

"So Jared has a date to the dance, you want to go with me and double up?" Not that he was against a woman making the first move, its just that women hadn't started making the first move until he was well out of college age and hanging around bars. And those had been completely different moves.

The last time he'd been out on a date that didn't include aliens was more than a decade before, and it had been with his wife. Now he was sixteen again, for all intents and purposes, and this girl with hair like a dandelion was asking him to dance. Because she was looking at him with such a delighted gleam in her eyes he had come to the conclusion that she was trying to shock him. And it must have worked, because his hormones answered for him.

"Sure."

So now Jack was standing just inside his front door and the same questions he'd been asking himself for the past month fluttered just behind his eyelids. Determined, he shut them away and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before flinging himself down on his couch and flicking on the television.

* * *

"He was really shocked Carli." Jared shook his head. "Dude is clueless." 

"Yeah, where has he been? Antarctica?" Carli was still fluttering over how Jack had blushed when he agreed to go with her. It had been adorable in so many ways.

"I don't think he's really spent a lot of time in public schools. Didn't he say his dad is military? Probably a base brat… he's got the posture."

"Right. So he's been stuck back in the sixties I bet. He's got to get out of that white mansion of his. We should take him out more often."

"Carli, we don't go out that often."

"Well.."

"We both like to hole up in our rooms and not converse with others for hours. He seems to me a kindred spirit."

"We should at least take him to the mall or something Jared. Have you noticed what he wears?"

"White shirt, khakis, boots."

"He's got to break out of the browns!"

"Fine! We'll take the guy shopping!" Jared threw his hands into the air as he braked in front of Carli's house.

"Thanks babe." She laughed and kissed his cheek before busting out of the car and running up the driveway. Jared groaned and laid his head on his steering wheel.

"What I have gotten us into?"

* * *

It was almost noon when Jack opened his eyes to stare at his clock. It wasn't ringing. 

His cell phone was, and he'd fallen asleep with it in his pants pocket. He groaned and rolled over, digging under the bed and into the pocket.

"Hello?" he asked, still half asleep. He pulled it away from his head, flipped it open and repeated, "Hello?"

"Jack! Get down here and open your door." Carli snarled cheerfully from the ear piece. Then he heard a click as she hung up on him. He debated ignoring her…

"What?" he answered the phone again.

"Don't ignore me, I'll just keep calling." To save himself the aggravation he slid out of bed and stumbled his way to his front door.

He wasn't wearing a shirt. Carli blinked as he yawned and rubbed his hair, his eyes seemed glued shut.

"Hm." He grunted and turned back toward his bedroom, leaving the door open.

"You know what day it is?" Carli asked, closing the door and following him to the back, just in time to watch him fling himself back down in the middle of his king sized bed.

"Don't care." He muttered as he yanked a sheet around his head. He was stubbornly trying to get back to sleep, but he was well aware that he still had his old instincts, and right at that moment, when Carli sat on the edge of his bed, he realized that they were going into overdrive. He was wide awake and he had a girl in his bed.

He had to get her off of it. Even as he thought that his hormones echoed louder, He had to keep her on it.

Carli kept the chuckle inside. Jack was frozen in indecision. She'd seen a panicking male before, and they never failed to amuse her. She was well aware that sometimes her sense of humor was a bit evil, but Jack was so cute, even with his face wrapped in a sheet. She decided to forgo the torture, and stood up. Jack slowly let the sheet drop and he stared up at her.

"What day is it?"

"Saturday."

"O-K."

"Mall day."

"Mall day?"

"Jared's waiting in the car. Grab a shirt and let's go." She waited a beat and then mockingly groaned.

"Yes, yes you have to leave my room before I'll change." Jack nodded at the girl. She paused, once again wanting to admire his love affair with the Simpson's.

"No fun." She complained, but left the room, he coughed and she closed the door before he'd swing back out of bed in his "Mr. Plow" boxer shorts.

* * *

"Did you know that Jack is ripped?" Carli laughed as Jared gave her the scared male look. 

"I'm a guy."

"So?"

"So I don't care."

"Are you telling me you never checked him out in the locker room?" Once again she got the male look. "Come on! I'm not a lesbian, but even I notice other girl's breasts! It's not a big deal!"

"Just don't ask me anything like this- ever again. It's an… avoidance thing. Guys don't look."

"Liar."

"Just stop." Jared was turning bright red at this point. Carli decided to take pity on him, this once.

"Fine, subject closed."

"Thank you." Jared breathed out explosively.

Jack chose that moment to walk out his front door. Just in time to see Carli turn from Jared, and notice a slight flush on the boys cheeks. He had to laugh. That girl just seemed to like making them both uncomfortable. But like with any strong willed girl around guys who like being abused by them, it was easy to get along.

He opened the back door and slid in toward the middle, belted in and stuck his tongue out at the blond sitting in the front seat.

"So we're going to the mall. What are you buying?"

"What are YOU buying," Carli smirked as Jack raised an eyebrow. He almost started laughing when she imitated him. He'd worked on that for months trying to be as aloof as Teal'c with that thing, and she did it without even knowing the guy. She even got the slight head turn down.

"What am I buying?" he asked.

"A shirt that isn't white." Jared shook his head, "her highness thinks that you'd enjoy some variety."

"And then off to the Cineplex! Sharlotte's meeting us after work for a movie." Jared looked over at his friend, like he hadn't known about that part, but wasn't willing to protest. Jack had to laugh at that.

"All right, sounds like an adventure." Not an adventure through a large glowing ring, down a spiraling worm hole and into heavy enemy fire, but adventure enough for him right now.

* * *

thanks for reviewing guys...

btw- yeah, jack did find a niche pretty quickly all in all... unfortunatly (and i've been the new kid several times) i've found that if you don't find a friend quickly, you don't find one for years. besides, jack is an easy guy to get along with- if you don't piss him off initially.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

Jack had taken Cassie to the mall one time. But she had been eleven, with no idea of what popular fashion had been. Jack was beginning to learn that Carli knew what she was doing, and was going to do it with, or without, his help.

She thrust yet another t-shirt at him, and flung a pair of jeans over his cradled arms.

"Trust me, you'll love them. Now go try on!" she shoved him toward the dressing rooms and went as far as to enter one with him.

"I think I can take it from here!" he dumped the pile of things on the floor and grabbed her arm, leading her out and leaving her there as he slammed the door behind him. "Christ!" he looked down at the mob of clothing and started sorting things out. It wasn't like he hadn't planned on going shopping sooner or later, he knew that his remarkable white attire was being commented on at school, but he'd thought he could slip away, grab a few plain t-shirts and nobody would notice. He should have known that teenage girls will grab any opportunity to shop that they could.

He pulled on a yellow t-shirt and was slightly disconcerted at how well it fit. It was soft material that hugged his chest and was still slightly baggy in the stomach area. He smirked, not that he had to worry about that, he was buff, he knew it. Besides, he loved the silk screen on the front. Some cartoon character with a yellow braid attempting to kick the head off a suit of armor. The lettering was all in Japanese, but it was an interesting design all in all. He gave himself into the t-shirt fest, and when it was all said and done the pile of eleven had only been cut by two. Not that he didn't appreciate Carli's input, but he'd die before he'd let her put him in pink and purple.

He was going to call it quits when Carli's voice came from under the door.

"You need to try on the jeans!"

"Carli!" he bent down and saw under the two inch gap between the floor and the door, Carli was sitting against the opposite wall, her ankles crossed as she waited for him.

"I haven't seen those trou's drop!"

"Will you give me a little privacy?" he asked, aggrieved.

"Just try them on, it's not like I've been peaking under the door!"

Jack tried them on, to get her off his back, and ended up buying four pairs in different washes. He put his foot down when she pulled a pair of jeans off the rack that looked older than his father, and considering his real father, that was pretty damned old.

"They've got holes in them Carli!"

"That's the style."

"If I'm going to have holes in my jeans, I'll put them there myself, thank you."

"No need to get your panties in a bunch." She scowled, "speaking of which…"

"I don't need new underwear, thank you." Jared had been watching them, not saying a word, but laughing as Jacks scowl outdid Carli's.

"Then shoes are the next stop."

"I have shoes."

"You have boots." She looked down at his feet.

"I like my boots. Boots are shoes."

He ended up buying a pair of Vans, whose soles really did feel like pillows, and a pair of Homer Simpson slippers, causing Jared to ask how he'd missed having a pair of them before.

"Actually I used to have one, haven't been able to find them again."

"Left behind huh?"

"You have no idea."

* * *

Jack had had enough shopping for the day, and was relieved when Carli told them that she was done as well. She hadn't bought anything, but spent what felt like hours (but was only about half of one) trying on several dresses. 

"Sharlotte's going to meet us in an hour. You guys hungry yet?" Jared asked.

"Naw," Carli shrugged, "Jack?

"Nope," he'd eaten a couple hot dogs while waiting for Carli.

"Arcade?" Jared asked, eyeing the room with the blinking lights and whistles. It was his favorite way to waste money at the mall.

"Sure," Jack agreed and followed the teen into the arcade, Carli only a step behind.

Jared exchanged some dollars for quarters, Jack followed suit and Carli just laughed and stole some from Jack. He pretended to growl at her, but they both knew he didn't care.

"House of the Dead?" Jared tugged Jack over to a machine, "how are you at shooters?"

"I don't know, never played before." He had to smack Jared's back as the avid arcade gamer choked.

"Never… played?" he sounded aggrieved.

"Just show me what to do." Jack smiled and steered him back in front of the screen. Jared picked up a blue plastic gun and waved it at the screen.

"Just shoot anything that doesn't look human." He explained, "It's pretty simple."

"Point and click." Jack nodded and picked up the red gun after slipping some quarters in.

"Point, aim and click… if you want to get any points."

"I stand corrected."

Carli watched the first half hour with amazement. She'd known that Jared was good, but the two boys playing together managed to get farther along without adding any quarters than she'd ever seen. They'd beaten four bosses before she decided to go off and spend some of Jacks quarters herself.

Jack was engrossed in the game. It was both like, and unlike, what he'd been doing professionally for years. He kept a cool head and was able to stay ahead of Jared in points, but the teen had a few tricks up his sleeve. He'd shoot barrels that Jack assumed were just covers, and picked up med packs, extra bullets, special explosives and more. Where Jack just avoided getting hit, Jared just repaired the damage and kept going. He knew where he could slack and where he couldn't. He would nod over to Jack and tell him to watch his back. Jack actually turned to look behind him at one point, and had gotten slashed on the screen because it was the characters who turned around and fought behind them for several minutes.

Jared was having the time of his life. He'd never had someone who actually knew how to shoot before, and it was making all the difference. Usually by this time he'd have spent several quarters renewing life because the newbie he played with hadn't gotten the guy on his side of the screen, been killed and then the zombie slashed him too. Jack was holding his own, and they were gathering a bit of a crowd. By the time their hour was up, he'd only had to renew once, Jack twice. They'd given their guns over to a couple of watchers and went off to find Carli.

Carli was standing on a metalrectangle with eight buttons set in, following the arrows on the screen. Jack was amazed. He'd never seen anyone's feet move so quickly. The music blared out, the graphics were distracting, and yet Carli's eyes never left the advancing arrows as they ran up the middle of the screen. She twirled around, smiled at him and stomped her feet rapidly as her skirt flared around her thighs. The song ended, and she almost collapsed against the back bars.

"Ouch." She groaned, and let her head dangle between her hands before lifting it and sticking her tongue out at them. "You boys done playing?" she asked.

"If you are," Jared smirked. "I don't know why you play on that thing, it's dangerous."

Carli shrugged and stepped off, leaning against Jack as he held out his hand to help her down. Two people got up to take her place.

"I need to stop playing double mats, that's what's going kill me." She was still leaning against Jack, but he didn't mind. He put his arm around her waist and let her lean back against his chest as they approached the escalator. The Cineplex was on the second floor, as they arose Jared spotted Sharlotte waiting for them near the box office.

"So, what are we watching?" Jared asked as he held out his hand. Sharlotte grinned and clasped it with her own. Carli held back her triumphant laughter and shrugged.

"What sounds good?"

"Finding Nemo?" Sharlotte pointed, "I've heard its really good."

"I haven't seen it yet." Jared nodded.

"Allright, Jack?"

"That's the one with the fish right?"

"Yeah."

"Why not?" he smiled as Carli looked up at him.

"Why not indeed."

* * *

Fragile Balance- June 2003 - Finding Nemo- May 2003...

trying to keep the same kind of time-line... -shrug- i've been trying to update for days! thats why you get two chapters instead of just one. enjoy!


	6. Chapter 6

i let this one get away from me. seriously didn't think anyone was interested, then i got this great review from "T" and i was suddenly reminded of my own promise to myself to finish each of these fics come hell or high water. i don't know when i'll next update. but i will finish eventually. you have my promise. so, this is for T. thanks.

btw- this takes place several months after the last update. just so you know.

* * *

Jack opened his eyes to a gasping scream, echoing out of his own lips. Sitting straight up he took deep breaths and grimly fought back the panic that erupted after his alarm suddenly started beeping. He couldn't remember what he'd been dreaming, but he knew it wasn't good.

He started getting ready for school on auto-pilot, grabbing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt he'd gotten from Jared after reading a comic on-line. He still wasn't completely sure he knew what "L33T" meant, but he understood that it was a good thing to be. He used an oversized coffee mug, instead of a travel cup, and stepped out of his apartment with his head almost buried in the rich scent of Folgers. He stumbled, more than walked, over to Jared's car, and was suddenly knocked almost off his feet by the body of a built teenage girl. It wasn't Carli, after the last few months of being bowled over by the diminutive blond, he knew her body. This girl was solid muscle and tears.

Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her and started hushing noises in her ear.

"Cassie, hush… what's wrong darling?"

"Mom!" she sobbed, unable to go on. She tried to bury herself in his shoulder, but paused her frantic movement when his fingers curled into her caramel hair. He helped her to her feet, still clutching, his own stomach rolling with unease as he connected her distress with his own that morning. He looked over to Carli and shook his head at the questions in her eyes.

"Go on to school, I'm calling out for the day."

* * *

Carli was quiet for the entire day. Jared wasn't much better, but did manage to tell Sharlotte that something was up with Jack. He wasn't sick, like the school thought, which made its way around gossip chains soon enough as his conversation was shamelessly eavesdropped on, but he was having a bit of a crisis with a girl he knew. And as that little tidbit made its way around, Carli found herself glaring at several girls who had the nerve to try and make something of it. They were both called on in class for inattentiveness, and Carli even had to force herself to work in art.

Normally as she dipped her brush into the blue inkwell she'd have to ignore Jacks sarcastic barbs about Smurfs, and suffer through him whistling the theme song. And as she thought of that she suddenly realized how deeply she let him get to her. In just a few months she was thinking that school just wasn't any fun without him around.

* * *

Jack, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to go to that dumb ass planet and bomb the place to bits. (Both his older self and his younger self, had no idea what to do next. Respectively they were both holding sobbing women in their laps, Cassie and Sam where the closest thing to family that Janet had, and having only Jack to lean on, they'd each chosen within their age group.) JJ still had no idea how Cassie had found out where he lived. He thought Janet was supposed to keep mini-him a secret. No one outside the SGC was supposed to know about him.

Of course that wasn't really important at the moment as Cassie sniffed her way to a truly stuffed head, and Jack could only hold on so she didn't shiver apart into millions of tiny Cassie-bits.

After a while, when she'd stopped crying, Jack got the whole story out of her. Of course Carter had been the one to come to her house and tell her about Janet. And Cassie had screamed and yelled and thrown things, only to run out of her house and past several school districts to find him. She confessed that she saw him at a school track meet (he'd been watching Jared) and followed him home. And after that she'd demanded the truth from Janet who'd told it to her because she was shocked that Cassie had noticed the resemblance. Jack was a little taken aback when she admitted that she thought Jack had a son he hadn't shared with the little alien (for whatever reason) and was scared when she learned that it was really big Jack just shrunk down.

"Scared, for what munchkin?"

"I thought you wouldn't like me anymore."

"Now that is truly a dumb ass thing to say."

And things had progressed from there. Jack made grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch, sipping on a Guinness he'd finally bribed from an SF. Cassie had wrinkled her nose and told him in a pert tone that he'd stunt his growth with all the coffee and alcohol.

"Well, it's like an experiment. I'll know it coffee really does stunt growth if I don't grow to be as tall as I already am." And as she puzzled her way through that statement she grudgingly admitted that he was probably the only person in the history of the world to be able to do that.

"So we'll just ignore your illegal drinking, in favor of science." She toasted him with her milk glass and ignored his snort of amusement.

* * *

Cassie just stared down at their joined hands. Jack had fallen asleep while they'd cuddled on the couch, Cassie had been content just to settle against him and listen to his heart beat. She remembered doing the same thing, seven years ago, while crying over the loss of her parents and then crying over the fact that Janet had wanted to keep her. It seemed that Jack could fix everything, just by being there and lending her his heartbeat.

He'd been the one to point out to her that even though her entire planet was now extinct, she still was lucky enough to be able to lay claim to this eclectic group of people who genuinely cared for and about her. He'd given her his love and support, a puppy when she'd needed one and a solid joke when ever he knew she had to smile. He wasn't a bit like her father, but she'd come to see him as a kind of uncle. Now, looking at his unlined face and stubbornly smooth jaw, she had found another niche in his life. Once again, it wasn't too close, not close enough for discomfort, but close enough for that sudden stillness that emphasized love in its many forms. She could also giggle over the fact that she was taller than this Jack by at least two inches.

* * *

Jared hesitated over the doorbell, snorting when Carli bumped him aside and rung it instead. They both hesitated when the girl answered the door, clad in a pair of Jacks sweatpants and a large Homer Simpson sweatshirt.

"Jack went to the store, he ran out of chocolate chip mocha fudge ice cream," she said as she recognized them from that morning. She stepped aside in a silent invitation that Carli took and Jared deliberated over. "Come on in, we're just going to order pizza and watch some movies tonight."

"I brought chocolate chip cookies," Carli raised the plate and set it on the dining room table as Cassie muttered.

"Score!" under her breath.

"Hi, I'm Carli," she held out her hand for a shake as Cassie bit into a cookie. She smiled, with the cookie clamped between her teeth, she shook Carli's hand.

"I'm Jared Shore," he shrugged admitting to himself that he felt like an idiot. Jack was going to come back and wonder what the hell his friends were doing, interrupting time with his girlfriend. Then he wondered at the sudden gleam in Cassie's eyes as she settled her gaze back to the front door.

Less than a minute later Jack stepped through; his sight hampered by three large brown bags of groceries.

"Cassie! You lazy ass! Help me out here!" He grunted as Jared took a bag, "Thanks…" then did a classic double take. "Dude, why aren't you at school?"

"It's five in the afternoon dip shit," Carli replied.

"Right… ok then… you staying for dinner? I'm making… ordered out pizza…" Cassie rolled her eyes at his attempt at humor and went toward the hall mounted telephone.

"I'll call Dominoes; we're getting pepperoni and whatever else you guys want as long as it doesn't include anchovies or olives."

"Cassie!"

"No Jack, I'm not sitting through a four hour long discourse on the healthy attributes of black olives. They're squishy and I hate them. They remind me of the bugs on…" she paused for a second, and then smiled. "In Canada."

"Big bugs?" Jared asked before telling her he'd like green peppers. Jack just groaned when she smirked and chuckled.

"Out of this world."


	7. Chapter 7

i spent the entire day off dusting. i had to take a break from typing thee times to sneeze and blow my nose. but i still kept going... i must really like you people.

* * *

"Hon, you need a ride home?" Jack bumped Cassie's shoulder as they tossed paper plates away, keeping his voice low he continued, "Or is Carter coming for you?" 

"Uh…"

"Stop," Jack had a sudden sinking feeling in his gut. He couldn't believe he'd spent the entire day with Cassie and it hadn't occurred to him that she hadn't told anyone where she was.

"Jack, I'm sorry," she grabbed the front of his t-shirt and tugged, like she used to when she wanted his attention and she was three feet shorter than he was.

"You should have called Sam; you know she's worried about you now," he pointed out, picking up his phone. "Call her now. You can stay for as long as you like, as long as you call Carter and tell her where you are."

"Can't have the dangerous alien out of sight right?" she smirked, well aware that some people where still suspicious of her.

"Kinsey's an ass, still can't believe anyone voted for that guy."

"Unfortunately," she agreed, "It'd be so much easier if I could use my deadly alien powers and spontaneously burst him into flame."

"You having problems with his guys?"

"Jack… where am I going? What am I doing? I was only allowed off base because mom adopted me. I'm not even a legal resident of Earth, let alone the US. I'm not old enough to be on my own, I don't even have the excuse you do. If anything I'm probably younger in real life than on paper."

"First off, you've got refugee status. That's valid as residency. Now what were you going to do? I know Janet was bragging about you going to doctor school." He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer to him, letting her head drift to his shoulder. She buried her face in his neck and shuddered.

"She never gave up. Even when she was sure she couldn't help you, she wouldn't stop," she muttered, "I wanted to be like her."

"You are like her. You are loyal and funny and beautiful," he paused when she smiled and then leaned back to look her in the eye. "And if you came near me with a needle I swear I'd run away."

"Jack, you've known me forever it seems…"

"And?"

"And you're prejudiced on my behalf," she smirked. "They won't let Sam be my mom, she's not on world enough to keep and eye on me. Same for the rest of SG-1, and someone has to be in charge of the alien, Jack, you know that."

"Screw them." He paused as he heard Jared in the hallway. He walked into the kitchen, not seeming to notice them; and started rustling for a drink in the fridge. Then he looked up at the two, twined neatly around each other. Blushing a brilliant scarlet, he apologized and hurried away with a root beet clamped in his hand.

Jack chuckled and pulled away from Cassie, handing her his wall phone. "Call Carter, apologize and tell her where you are."

As she took the phone and started dialing, Jack decided to "find out" what Jared was flustered about.

"Jack," Cassie warned.

"What?"

"Be nice," she admonished, but chuckled when he glowered at her and turned away muttering under his breath.

"Ruin all my fun."

* * *

Sam hesitated briefly before knocking on the door, she'd been frantic with worry when Cassie finally called, and now she just wanted to grab her and run away. It wasn't that she didn't like Jack, all the evidence pointed otherwise in fact, but she was unsure how to treat him in his clone form. He still was, for all intents and purposes, her superior officer. But he was, in practical terms, a newborn teenager. For gods sake, he was shorter than her, and that was just odd. She breathed a sigh of relief when Cassie answered the door. 

Then she did a double take, it wasn't Cassie.

"Oh, hi, you must be Carter. Cassie was just telling us about you," she held out a hand and waited and smirked at the dumb expression on Sam's face.

Sam got over the shock quickly, and accepted the hand shake.

"I'm Carli, JJ's friend, we're just finished eating but there's still pizza left if you want any," Carli stood aside so Sam could enter the house. All her nerves disappeared when she saw the poster on the wall.

Bart Simpson was telling her not to have a cow.

"Carter! Hey," Jack entered into the family room from the kitchen and spotted her, a cookie in his hand. He waved the cookie at her and grinned his patented, _it's all right, got this one under control, _grin. It took her every bit of control she could grab not to call him "Sir".

"JJ," she nodded as his grin widened. He knew, of course he knew, he always knew. It was hard enough for her, but he was having a hard time not busting into laughter. She scowled at him and his twinkling eyes.

Jared was watching the byplay with much interest. Jack was a mystery, one he was determined to crack, and he knew there was something heavy going on behind Jack's manic smile. He shifted his attention to the statuesque blond, military bearing and a snazzy haircut, she stood in the room as if she wasn't quite sure how to proceed.

"Cassie is putting away the last of the pizza, unless you want some?"

"No, thank you Jack," Carter decided to act as if she were just picking up her niece from her friends house. Which was basically true, and if she could keep herself from "sir'ing" Jack, she could pull it off with minimum fuss.

"So, you met Carli, this is Jared," Jack pointed and Jared waved. "They go to school with me; I really wouldn't have made it with out them."

"Nice to meetcha," he noticed Sam relaxed a bit at Jacks qualifying statement.

"So, Carter, we were going to watch a movie, if you want to join us?" Cassie stepped out of the kitchen as Sam opened her mouth to answer.

"I think Sam and I need to get going Jack, we've got some stuff to go over," Cassie bent over and kissed Jack's cheek before moving over and accepting Sam's arms in a tight hug.

"Yes, we do."

"Well, keep me appraised, I want to know what's going to happen," Jack crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, one eyebrow cocked in emphasis. Sam nodded.

"Of course sirrrr… oh crap," she blushed brilliantly as Jack snickered. She felt a suspicious shaking in her arms, and was aware of Cassie, desperately trying to hide her chuckling.

"Cassie, darling," Jack waited until Cassie controlled her pig snorts and caught her eye.

"You're always welcome here. You come over any time, all right darling?"

"Yes Jack." She dutifully nodded and gave him on last hug before returning to Carter. As Jack walked them to the door Carter hesitated and looked back at Jack.

"Just out of base curiosity, which movie are you going to watch?"

"The Wizard of Oz, of course," Jack smirked and waited for the inevitable Carter moment. She processed the information, remembered each time she told him his fascination with that movie was odd (for a straight man) and then she bit her lip to keep her grin controlled.

"Huh," and noticing that the other two were out of hearing range, but still watching them, she reached up and ruffled his hair. As he scowled and tried to think of proper retribution he watched her walk away. His head tilted to the side, she was wearing those jeans again, and heard a soft, "Good night, Sir."

* * *

so, yes i introduced sam in this chapter, i hope i did it all right. i'm thinking of the best way to introduce daniel... seriously i've had this part in my head since i started this story, but i was rereading what i had and now it seems too contrived... so i'm going back to the drawing board. wish me luck. (btw- thanks for the recent reviews, i do really like you people!) 


	8. Chapter 8

originally i was going to introduce sam, then daniel, then go from there... i didn't get to daniel this time! sorry!!

* * *

The canvas was thirty million feet taller, and at least half again as wide as his arm span. Or at least that's what it felt like to Jack.

"Don't knock it into anything!" Carli admonished as she opened her front door. Jack followed her inside, carefully maneuvering so that the edges of the canvas didn't run into the frame. She had somehow managed that girl trait, the one where they can't carry anything larger than a poodle; you have to get a guy to do it for you. Of course, now that he had his official license and he'd gotten a truck, he had the towing capacity that Jared's car lacked. Which explained why he was helping Carli take her art project home.

"Where do you want it?"

"Upstairs, and be quiet, my dad's asleep on the couch," Carli looked over and saw the familiar lump, rushed over and smoothed the quilt over his shoulders as Jack shifted toward the staircase. Luckily it was right through the front door; he just had to get his feet on the first step without knocking the corners against the rest of them. Then he'd be just fine.

"So what does your dad do? That he's asleep in the middle of the day?" Jack asked to distract himself, he carefully set the canvas down on the incline, fully intending to slide it the rest of the way up.

"He works night security," Carli shrugged. It meant a lot to her that he set up his work schedule like that. He was always home when she got back from school. She always had time with her dad.

"Where at?" Jack followed her up the stairs and scooted the canvas across the upstairs hallway. She opened her bedroom door and grimaced.

"Crap, we'll have to stand it up. The shorter end on the ground, so we can make the corner," Jack groaned and rolled his eyes.

"You told me it was going to be easy. Easy Carli," he stuck his tongue out at her as he man handled the canvas so the longer end was against his body. "This is not easy, it's torture."

"At least it didn't snow; I thought I might have to dry out your truck bed before I even thought of trusting my work to it. You need to get a cover."

"Did you know that in some parts of the country March is actually considered spring?" He grunted as he pushed the painting the final few inches into her room.

"Really?" Carli chuckled and moved a few things away from a wall. "Now we just prop it up against here and I bake you cookies as a thank you."

"Big cookies," Jack reminded her. "Really big cookies."

* * *

Jack munched on cookies as he drove home. Carli's dad had woken up while they fiddled around in the kitchen, had stolen some cookies and then proceeded to grill Jack as to his intentions. It was really quite funny, considering that he recognized her father as one of the top-side NORAD guards. Mike didn't have the clearance to know about the SGC, but Jack had remembered one time when the man hadn't let him onto the base because he'd left his id at home. After retrieving it Mike had apologized, but Jack had waved it off. If he'd been Mike, he wouldn't have let him on base either.

Once Jack put Mike's fears to rest concerning his daughter, he'd packed up some large cookies and kissed Carli's cheek goodbye. Just recently he'd gotten into the habit of touching people more. A hand to an elbow, a friendly shoulder punch with the guys. He missed being able to fiddle around with Danny's doohickies, or Carter's doohickies, or Teal'c's… well, not really anything of Teal'c's was fiddlearoundable…

He found himself just reaching out and, like when he was a child, a hand outreached usually got something put in it to keep it out of trouble. He's bought an obscene amount of yo-yo's in the past few weeks. He now had juggling sticks, and those sticks that you use two of them to keep a third twisting around or jumping into the air. He was going to try his hand at the kind attached to a piece of string with a weird hourglass shaped ball-thingy next, see how well he did with that.

It really was odd, though, that he found he didn't think of the SGC at all some days when before, it had been his entire life.

But it really wasn't a surprise to pull up to his apartment and find a truck already in his driveway.

* * *

He was sitting on the couch, waiting for himself. He'd appropriated a Guinness from the fridge and was playing a racing game on the Playstation. JJ entered the apartment and slid off his shoes before grabbing a Guinness and joining himself on the couch.

"So, what's wrong?"

"Why does anything have to be wrong?"

"First of all I look like hell," he took a sip and leaned back into the cushions. "And second, nobody seems to come see me until hell freezes over. So let me ask again, what's wrong?"

"I did it again."

"There are so many stupid things to do again that could mean the end, so you want to be more specific?"

"Ancient head sucker."

"Daniel needs to translate, it won't work for Teal'c, never going to put Sam through that, and it was about to blow up, right?"

"Of course."

"And you're dying, with no way to contact the Asgard again?"

"Pretty much."

"And something really bad is going to come through the gate unless you can figure this out?"

"I don't think they're coming through the gate, but pretty close, you get the consolation prize," Jack finished off his beer, the car crashed, and he got to his feet with a deep puff of breath flowing out in agitation.

"They're flying here? What about the treaty?" JJ didn't bother to get up; he knew Jack would be back after getting another beer.

"This new Goa'uld guy, Anubis, thinks he's above it all. We're pretty much fuck'd."

"Don't say that, you know how many times we've thought we've been fuck'd, and we'd managed to slip through. This is another one of those times. Trust me."

"Yeah, trust myself… I know I talk bull-shit, I can't trust myself." JJ snorted and picked up the controller as Jack sat back down.

"Hey, I'm a different guy now, my fron's working at an all-time high."

"Fron… right," Jack shook his head.

"And my kozaars aren't all messed up like yours."

"That's right, and if you're careful you won't need to take bone supplements by the time you're thirty."

"And I've been doing an experiment. I have coffee every morning. I'm trying to see if it really does stunt growth. So I need you to go into the bathroom and mark your height against the wall. If I don't make it up there by the time I'm twenty four-ish, we'll know Cassie's right."

"Well, she's a pretty smart kid."

"Yeah, she's been by a couple of times. I'll miss her when she goes off to Princeton," JJ grinned. "Goofy kid worked her ass off."

"I've gotta go and say bye to her."

"You really want to do that?"

"I owe it to her. I don't want it sprung on her."

"Like with Janet," JJ nodded, acknowledging the point, but still apprehensive about it. And he wasn't even the one dying.

"Yeah, and I'd better get going. You know Carter's going to show up at my door with that "I was just in the neighborhood" excuse…" Jack put the almost untouched beer down on a coaster and made for the door.

"Jack," he paused, reaching for his coat.

"Yeah."

"I'll see you around." The silence was almost deafening between Jack and his clone, but they both knew what he meant. Jack smirked and looked back, brown eyes meeting brown eyes.

"Yeah, see you around kid."

* * *

so, yeah, hi jack! i dunno about you guys, but if i was dying, i'd want to tell myself about it.


	9. Chapter 9

hello all, now i know its been many moons since i've updated, but for some reason i just couldn't! i tried to continue and i painted myself into many metaphorical corners. so i sat down last night and i told myself, you will write something to post. it doesn't matter which story you continue as long as you post. and out popped this! i was certain that the next chapter in this universe was going to be a Daniel confrontation... not between JJ and Daniel, no, i have something much more interesting in mind... but i (for some reason??) was reading the transcript for the season 8 opener and this popped into my fron! (oh, and by the way, i realized while reading that the word _fron_ was never used in the first "i stuck my head into an ancient repository of knowledge" episode, but in these ones... that makes my usage of it in the last chapter a little sub-cannon. oh well, who says it wasn't used off camera?

stargate doth not belong to me. but i'm having so much fun swimming in its pool. (it's shiny and clean and doesn't house any fish, at least not in this reality!)

* * *

He watched the bright flashes of light on the news his teacher had taped the previous week, he knew what they were, even though the rest of the class was clueless, thinking it a meteor shower. As long as there wasn't one big flash and the world didn't crumble around them, JJ figured they were pretty safe. For one imperceptible moment during the fire fight in Antarctia he'd blanked out, felt cold, stopped breathing… then he shuddered and everything felt sharper, clearer, cleaner.Ever since then he'd been walking around with a hyper awareness of his surroundings, yet feeling more tired than if he'd been trampling through the multitude of forests on the multitude of planets his previous self had visited. 

Suddenly interested he watched the monitor, maybe it had caught... then he noticed it, a slight blue sheen on the lense and then everything was quiet. Something big had happened, and in the middle of his World News class he jumped up, twitched, and fell like a rock to the ground.

* * *

There was a hand on his forehead, warm and dry, slowly shifting up until fingers carded in his hair. He'd been growing it out, never having been out of the military long enough to know what it looked like long, he'd grown curious. It felt soothing, the hand, and he knew without opening his eyes that Carter was anxious for him to wake up. Sometimes he would take a nap on the couch in his office, and he'd wake to her hand in his hair. She always moved away before he opened his eyes though, securing the illusion they'd created. But they were different now, and when he opened his eyes, she was still petting him softly. 

"You collapsed during class," she told him as he recognized the ceiling as his own apartment, and the pillow he was lying on wasn't a pillow at all. "They called the base, but it's in such a mess right now they just had me come to the school to pick you up. What do you remember?"

She watched carefully as he thought back toward the blank space in his mind.

"Watching the "meteor shower" on the news," the sarcastic quote marks were almost visible, but he didn't move his fingers to accomplish them, his arms were too weak.

"They said you jumped up then fainted, you woke up, after a minute, and told them that you were all right and not to worry. Then you just took yourself to the nurse's office and asked them to contact your father. You then passed out. You came to after I arrived and followed me to the car, then inside, and then you passed out again."

"Men do not faint or pass out, we lose consciousness," JJ scoffed. "why didn't you take me to the SGC?" he was puzzled.

"Kinsey's still walking around," Sam smirked. "But not for long."

"Wha?"

"The President fired him," she giggled at the smug smile that stretched across his face.

"Where were you? How was he fired? Did you see his slimy ass fall?" Still flat on his back all the animation in his eyes made up for the lack of jumping up and down in victory that he wanted to do.

"I wasn't there, but I did hear from an eavesdropper who shall remain nameless-"

"Siler…"

"That while Kinsey was arguing with Weir…"

"Wait, who?"

"Hold on, while they were arguing Hayes told Kinsey to shut up, and then accepted his resignation when Kinsey continued arguing. Then he told Kinsey, when he protested, that he had enough on Kinsey to have him shot. Kinsey then stormed off like an infant and started making himself a nuisance around base. He was just being cuffed when I left, but he's still on base in a cell until they can transport him to a different facility."

"Now I feel bad about not voting for the guy…"

"Aw, shush, anyway, Weir was brought over to replace Hammond…"

"Replace-!" Jack sat up quickly, then sank back down with a pained groan. "Why do I feel so drained?"

"How long have you been feeling like this Sir?"

"I dunno Carter, I thought I was just getting the flu or something, just been feeling out of it for about a week, why?"

"I think I might be able to explain that."

"What did I do now?"

"You put yourself into a cryogenic sleep chamber so that the Ancient knowledge wouldn't burn out your brain," she cleared her throat and looked at anything but him.

"Oh, is that all?" JJ sat up more carefully and leaned back against the cushions. "Why would that be affecting me Carter?"

"Well, there is a possibility that somehow energy between the two of you is still being transmitted, kind of like how magnets resonate…" she trailed off as JJ glared at her. "Ok, I get it, not helpful."

"So what have the Asgard said about my frozen nap?"

"We haven't been able to contact them, actually."

"Why those good for nothing- what do you mean haven't been able?" he crossed his arms over his chest and slumped. Sam thought it prudent not to mention how adorable he looked when he pouted.

"Don't worry, I have a plan."

* * *

"Well, you don't look like you have mono," Jack answered the door to a particularly pouty face. 

"Hey, Carli…" Jack grimaced as she shoved her way past him and turned to watch him close the door after letting Jared past him. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her pout was definitely now a scowl.

"Look, you don't have to lie to us if you don't want to be around us anymore, just be a man and admit it. You don't have to duck around corners if you want us not to be friends anymore."

"Wait- what?" Jack looked to Jared for an explanation, but only got a perplexed head shaking in response.

"You haven't been to school because of your imaginary mono, you haven't answered your phone, I saw you at the grocery store on Tuesday and screamed your name and you just ignored me and walked away…" she trailed off as Jack blinked and looked up at the ceiling, apparently not paying attention to her at all. That is, until she smacked his arm, hard.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You were ignoring me!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Then what did I say?" she sighed as he spaced out again, then smacked his arm.

"Say about what?"

"Jack, what is wrong with you?"

"I don't know! I don't know what it is! Stop asking me Thor!" Jack grabbed his head and sank to the floor, very ungracefully.

"Jack!" Jared knelt quickly, grabbing his friend's shoulders to keep him upright, Jack giggled.

"T looks odd with hair," then slumped in Jared's grip, unconscious.

* * *

"We didn't know who else to call! The base wouldn't listen to us!" Jack once again woke to the sensation of a hand raking through his hair. Keeping his eyes closed, because he just knew if he tried to open them he'd hurl anything that was currently in his stomach, he tried to identify the different voices in the room. Carli was nervously pacing across his fireplace… 

"It was ridiculous, even trying to contact Carter was impossible, they said she wasn't on base," Jared was sitting on the plush chair next to the couch.

"The team is away for the moment, Sam said she'd call me the minute they got back…" and Cassie was brushing her fingers against his scalp.

"You have a million lifetimes to stop doing that," Jack moaned and sighed as Cassie pressed harder against his temples. "Unless you want to get me something for my headache?"

"Light sensitive?"

"Yep."

"Pulsing, nausea?"

"Double check."

"Noise?" She chuckled at the fact that he hadn't spoken above a whisper yet.

"I like whispering, you should all get into the habit as well."

"Jared, there should be some Maxalt in his bathroom mirror cabinet, can you grab it for me? I don't think I should move yet."

"No, no moving for you," Jack agreed as Carli settled down, kneeling by his head. She blocked the natural light coming from the window, and he sighed thankfully, carefully opening his eyes.

"HPS?" Cassie asked as she twisted a bit when Jared reentered the room carrying a box with a prescription label on it.

"Two, maybe two point five?" He answered and waited patiently for Cassie to unwrap his pill present and hand it to him.

"Have you taken anything else in the past day?"

"No, holy Hannah Cassie just give me the damn pill and go away!"

"And there's the irritability, it's a migraine all right." Cassie handed him the pill, and as he set the disintegrating tablet on his tongue she carefully moved away, leaving a pillow in her place as he curled his arms up protectively around his head and his knees against his chest in as tight a ball as he could manage.

"Cassie, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jared asked quietly.

"Sure, Carli, can you keep an eye on him? I'll get you a soda or something?"

"All right," Carli settled in, content on just watching her friend as he tried to smoosh what little comfort he could from a throw pillow.

* * *

"Cassie, I know it's not really any of my business, but his cabinet…" Jared had been shocked when he'd opened the mirror. There were so many little orange bottles of prescription medication he had no idea where to start. When his eyes fell back into his skull he'd noticed the box that said Maxalt MLT on it, but he'd been sidetracked by Prednisone, Oxycodone, Vicodin, Synthroid, Keppra, Duratuss, Lipitor, Klor-Con… ect. 

"A lot of that stuff is just in case," Cassie knew exactly what he was talking about. She also knew that she couldn't tell him the real reason Jack had all of that. Janet had been insistent that Jack be prepared in case, for whatever reason, his cloned-by-aliens body started to fail. All Jack would have to do would be to call her up, she would tell him what to take until she could get to him. "JJ's mother's family has a host of medical problems, and my mom was his mother's physician and best friend. When she died my mom kinda went a little mental and stocked him up so that if anything happened, anything at all, he wouldn't be left in the metaphorical dust." Cassie decided to start brewing tea, Jack couldn't have any caffeine for a while and she didn't want just water. She grabbed the kettle from the cabinet above Jared's head.

"So he's got narcotics for "just it case"?" Jared asked as he pulled a Dr Pepper from the fridge; luckily, Cassie noticed, he turned back around before he could see the Guinness he'd uncovered behind it.

"Like I said," Cassie shrugged as she thanked whatever luck gods were looking out for her and turned back to the kettle on the stove. "My mom went a bit nuts. She knew that Jack and JJ didn't really get along, so it was unlikely that JJ would have a lot of supervision, she wanted to make sure that nothing could happen to him if she could prevent it."

"Jack being JJ's dad?" Jared asked.

"Yeah…" Cassie hesitated a bit, unsure of what the clone had told his friends about his "family" for lack of a better term.

"I'm sorry I'm making you uncomfortable, but…" this time Jared hesitated, taking a sip of his pop, before continuing. "It's just that, I've been Carli's friend for a while and Jacks friend now too…"

"All right," Cassie nodded as the kettle shrieked and she removed it from the burner quickly, glancing at the doorway as she did so. She forgot that it would be so loud, so she was distracted from the point Jared was trying to make.

"I just want to make sure that they're both all right, and having Jack be addicted to prescription medication is not all right in any case," Jared took a deep breath and rushed in. "Because Carli and I would help him if he needed help…" he paused when Cassie giggled at him.

"Trust me, there is no way he's addicted to medication. My mother had to practically cuff him to take any medication. That HPS I asked about is a pain monitor, Headache Pain Scale." She added tea bags to the kettle and turned back to face Jared. "On a common scale of 1-10, his pain level would be at a nine, maybe ten, just because he likes to play it down when at all possible. Trust me, his head hurts so bad right now that if we weren't here he'd be crying in a dark closet, clutching his head so hard it would explode. It was probably at a one on the HPS when you guys showed up, so he was somewhat coherent, then it just when boom, making him pass out." Cassie shrugged, "and he just told me that he hadn't taken anything in the past day." Fishing a couple of mugs from the cabinet next to the fridge she placed them on a cookie baking sheet she unearthed from the stove and placed it down with a cup of sugar and a carton of cream. She was about to ask Jared to grab Carli a Coke, but rethought that and fetched it herself. After all, there was no point in tempting fate.


	10. Chapter 10

you all owe this new chapter to Mara Roberts, a wonderful review got me out of my funk. I was going around and around trying to fit what i thought was a clever plot twist into my story, but couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what to do next. then i trolled around and watched a couple of stargate episodes and found that i just had to do this. so its really far in the future from where i was, but i decided that the timeline isn't set in stone and i'm not really setting down dates correctly anyway... so without futher ado...

spoilers for 8.07- affinity

* * *

JJ looked up from his homework as he heard the screech and crunch of a vehicular accident from his open window.

"Vehicular accident, damn I'm starting to think like T…" The arguing over fault was more of the macho bullshit he'd just left behind at school, and he really didn't want to deal with it, but he pulled his cell phone out as he crossed to watch the incident from the window. He clipped the phone closed when he heard the low rumble of a big black man.

"This is unlawful behavior."

The arguing continued, well, on the other guys part. Teal'c just stood there and cited protocol. JJ had to stop himself from laughing out loud as the guy took a swing. Before anyone else really knew what had happened three men were bleeding and collapsed on the ground, and Teal'c was shrugging off the praise from a kid and the man whose car had been back-ended.

"T, want a coke?" JJ called out the window; Teal looked back and nodded slowly before ruffling the kid's hair and smiling slightly. He'd noticed a few things since they'd let Teal'c move off base and into his own apartment. Teal'c hadn't really ever changed his antiquated thinking. He leapt into the defense of women and children, he still had a hard time calling JJ anything other than JackO'Neill, and from example he had begun to teach the neighborhood kids how to defend themselves against bullies. Of course it was fun to have Teal'c around; it felt like he had something back that had been ripped away. Now that thing was living across the street and had a standing invitation to come over for dinner or whatever.

"Eric has expressed interest in learning how to "kick ass"," Teal'c closed the front door and walked into the kitchen, his hand up to catch the coke JJ threw at him.

"Kid's cute," JJ scoffed. "I could let his mother know about the martial arts classes at the Y."

"I was thinking," the deep rumble was a bit hesitant.

"About teaching him yourself?" JJ knew where his friends thought process was heading.

"Yes," he clicked open the can and took a sip as he waited for a response.

"Well, I don't see why not, as long as you don't teach him to snap necks." JJ offered, knowing that the base probably wouldn't like it, but wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"It would teach the children discipline in emotion and action," Teal'c expanded, talking about the idea that had formed in his mind of its own volition. He could help the people of Earth in a way he had never thought possible when he still had his prim'ta.

JJ just sat back and let Teal'c think his idea out loud. He knew that his friend had a tough time understanding Earth culture, and at first the idea of not teaching the young how to fight and defend themselves had seemed to him, a horribly neglectful thing to do. He had asked Janet once if all Earth parents hated their children so much. If a System Lord touched down not one of them would be able to fight the Jaffa.

When she explained to him that parents hoped their children would live in a world that did not need such training, and so didn't push their kids to get it, he began to slowly understand the forced idealism that humans had. Again and again in his struggles with SG-1 he had been amazed at how they threw themselves into danger to keep their teammates from it, and even found himself between them and present peril without thinking it through.

He now found himself thinking things that he knew would never have even occurred to anyone on any of the other planets he'd been to as First Prime to Apophis. He found himself thinking that he liked it better this way.

* * *

"Teal'c, if you're really that worried about Krista, I can go talk to her. Girl to girl," Carli pulled the big sofa chair closer to the coffee table so she could rest her feet on it as she slouched.

"I do not understand why she would not defend herself Carli," Teal'c admitted as he studied the loose sprawl the girl fell into when she was truly comfortable. For the first few weeks whenever she was around the large man she would sit straight and not turn her back to him. He approved of her manner, cautious around an unknown, and had begun to teach her a few of the katas he'd shown his friend Krista and a few of the neighborhood kids. The girls had hit it off, despite the age difference, and Carli did have a point. Maybe Krista would talk about the problems she had with her overbearing boyfriend with someone who couldn't pose a threat to her, or Doug, in any way.

"It's kinda girl thing Teal'c. Maybe she just has really low self-esteem. Sometimes you'll stay with a person who hurts you, because you hope that they'll never leave, and you'll never be alone. That's a big fear in a lot of people, being alone."

Teal'c nodded to show that he understood, but Carli knew he didn't, not really.

* * *

JJ heard the crash, and then the swearing as he slammed his truck door closed. The apartment building across the street, Teal'c and Krista's, seemed to be the source. As a pan flew from an open window JJ stopped thinking and just ran into the building. That had been Kristi's window.

"Get the hell out and don't come back!" He heard a he sprinted up the stairs and into the long hallway. He saw Kristi's boyfriend, Doug, flung out of her doorway and dented the wall with his head, as several bags full of clothing and other things spewed from the opening, decorating the stunned male in effigy. He had to stop his heart from pounding out of his chest; JJ leaned against the opposite wall and just watched in stunned admiration as the brunette took back control of her life.

Kristi slammed the door shut and even down the hall JJ could hear the pointed click of several locks thrown. Good girl, he approved, and continued down the hall as Doug got to his feet and glared at the obstacle in front of him. Obviously he couldn't let her do that. He would have to show her who was boss, despite the fact that she had just bodily thrown him from her home. He made an aborted attempt to pound on the door, to find his wrist being held firmly in the grasp of the teen that lived across the street.

He'd seen JJ a few times in the company of the black guy who fixed Kristi's pipes. He scoffed, fixed her pipes, right; he wondered how many times the big guy had "fixed" his girlfriends "pipes". He was wretched out of his thoughts by a sudden pain in his wrist. It felt like every nerve in his arm was on fire. He collapsed to his knees and tried, unsuccessfully, to pull his wrist away.

"She doesn't want you around anymore," JJ talked calmly in monotone in Doug's ear. "I would suggest you leave and never come back. This is no longer a place where you are welcome, and if I find you here again I will not hesitate to shoot you."

Doug heard all this despite the shooting pain, and the panic that had gathered in his throat came out as a stiff laugh.

"Right, like a stupid brat like you could even aim a gun, much less shoot someone!" he refused to allow the kid to intimidate him. Even as the shiny chrome of the Ruger P94 appeared from the behind the kids back, he refused to believe the dry throat he suddenly had meant fear.

"I prefer the P94 to the P90; do you want to know why?"

"Ah…"

"Four more rounds, and it's shiny."

* * *

JJ didn't know how things could go so wrong, so quickly. Doug had come back, even after his creative threats. Now he had been found dead in Kristi's apartment, Kristi was missing, and Teal'c had been taken back to the mountain under "supervision". Carli was ranting like a madman, ganging up with Eric and explaining to several police officers exactly how it was that Teal'c couldn't be responsible for the extreme dead guy.

JJ knew without a doubt that Teal'c hadn't done it, the big guy had said so, and that was enough for him. He knew it was also enough for his other self and that Jack would do anything possible to clear his buddy's name.

Yet they still had to find Kristi, because JJ was pretty sure she was the suspect they were looking for. He suspected, and he should have been camped out to make sure, that Doug was a coward at heart. And a coward always strikes twice if he thinks he can get away with it. If he came back to Kristi's at night and forced his way in, she would have to defend herself, and with all the training she'd been doing with Teal'c, she could defend herself pretty well.

* * *

JJ watched as Pete walked through Kristi's apartment. He knew that Carter hadn't told her boyfriend about him and his "clone incident", so it was a little funny to watch the side glances Pete gave him, wondering why the teen was present and why he was glaring so hard. Nobody had told him that Carter was dating a cop. He knew about the first date because Cassie had told him, and he knew about the "stalking" because Cassie had told him. But either Cassie didn't know that Carter hadn't broken off the relationship, or she had been keeping mums about it. JJ would bet on mums, there wasn't much the little teen alien didn't know.

"Well, dying against the wall suggested the victim was attacked by somebody bigger and stronger." Pete was saying.

"Like Teal'c. So it was a set-up." Carter responded as she showed JJ the autopsy photo they'd brought. Yeah, it looked like a bad set-up.

Following behind Pete as he followed his train of thought to the apartments across the street Sam nudged JJ's shoulder.

"You don't have to glare so hard," she hissed.

"Why not? Isn't it bad enough you guys don't tell me enough to feed a ferret, I have to find out about your boyfriend in the middle of an investigation, trying to prove that my best friend didn't kill an abusive fuck that I wanted to kill?" He hissed back. "I should have shot him when I had the chance." He muttered, kicking a piece of concrete away from the sidewalk as they entered the building.

"Shot? Sir…" she winced as he winced, remembering.

"It wouldn't have been permanent Carter, just enough to let him know not to mess with my neighborhood." He kept to the background as Pete explained his theory, and concluded with the truism that cops on stakeout never eat healthy. Tracking down a pizza place that had a new repeat customer had proven easier than JJ had thought. He knew most of the local places, and they knew him as a very good customer. He flirted a bit with the counter girls, and it only took three tries before they got a hit.

* * *

JJ wondered if he had good luck, or bad as he found Daniel talking with an obvious operative in the park. It wasn't like he planned these things, really, he didn't.

"I have three snipers targeting your position at this very moment Doctor."

"You're bluffing." No Daniel, he's not bluffing, JJ groaned.

JJ didn't plan these things… he also didn't plan the sniper in the car shooting the coffee cup from across the street or the sudden presence of a pistol against the back of his head. As he heard Daniel quip he moaned.

"So, we gonna take your car or mine, or should I just follow you?"

"Damn it Daniel, stop being so chirpy," JJ managed as the man behind him grabbed his wrists and used plastic loops to tie them together.

"JJ, what the hell?" Daniel looked over at him as the push behind JJ made him stumble into the clearing.

"I was just out for a walk… stupid NID, stupid ops, stupid me and my stupid World History paper…" he muttered as they sat in the back of a black sedan with tinted side windows. "Hey, wait, now that you're here, why was the assassination attempt of George Stewart so freak'n important anyway?"

"The novelist?"

"No the Malaysian Governor guy.

"You mean Duncan George Stewart," Daniel replied, then sat blankly for a moment. "I have no idea."

"Then what use are you anyway?"

"Well apparently I translate things pretty easily," was said in a dry tone that JJ had to admire.

"I also have to wonder why it's called an assassination_ attempt_ when the guy dies a week later from complications anyway. I mean, it's pretty well done, he's dead." JJ shrugged.

"I would think that would be something you'd know Jack. After all, semantics…"

"Please don't start the lecture."

"What?"

"You were going into professor mode."

"I was not."

"Was too."

"JAacK!"

"DAnIEl…"

"Both of you shut the fuck up!"

* * *

JJ woke up with a pretty familiar headache. His shoulders twitched, a moan escaped, and he wondered why it was he had to be zatted so many times. The universe must hate him something fierce. On the upside it seemed that everyone was alive, Kristi included. On the downside it seemed like the bad guys got away… again.

"God Damn it!" he scrunched back down as his head twirled around his neck without seeming to be attached.

"Headache?"

"A little dizzy."

"At least we're still alive."

"Yes, Daniel, we're still alive, and the NID have the translation they want."

"Actually, they don't."

"What?" JJ must have missed something, didn't they verify the translation… but how would they do that if Daniel was the only one who could translate… he must have missed the logic train that morning.

"It was a pretty convincing bluff. That they'd kill us if it was incorrect."

"I can't believe I missed that."

"Yep, it's almost completely right except for a couple of pronouns, and lucky me, most people don't think pronouns can really change anything. But if you change a name with a "He" or "Her" it can throw the entire thing off."

"Good job Daniel, now can we please get something for this headache?"

* * *

"So you can stay?" Kristi played with the yo-yo JJ had handed her to displace her nervous energy. Teal'c nodded and took the hug she gave him in enthusiasm with his own brand of dignified affection. It looked kind of odd, as JJ watched his friend take another step into the world without him, the gigantic black man enveloped the slighter brunette, but it worked.

* * *

so i ended it that Teal'c gets to keep living outside the mountain. i thought that was pretty much a gyp in the original that he had to stay at the sgc if he wanted to keep living on earth. it really bites the big one. but this way he gets a nice relationship with a nice girl and he gets to hang out with JJ more! who could ask for anything more?


	11. Chapter 11

i know it's kinda short, but i was just watching "Promethius Unbound" which is the episode in which Vala first appears and kicks Daniels ass all over the ship... i just had to make a bit of a tag for that. and like before, it's a bit of a jump from august to december going by the release dates of the episodes. and i know i'm not really following those, except for when it's convenient, but whatever... just enjoy! and before you all ask- yes Smith-Whyte has a purpose, i just haven't figured out if it's just making Daniel blush or something else yet...

* * *

"So, let me get this straight… this- chick- beat you up?" JJ handed Daniel a beer and scoffed into his bottle before taking a sip. Daniel, for lack of a comeback, merely glared and let his head flop back down on the back of the sofa. Jack had opened the door half an hour previously to a rather dejected looking Dr. Daniel Jackson. Daniel spent the last half hour griping about hand to hand skills and how if he tried to get Teal'c to teach him some more he'd probably spend the next three years in the infirmary.

"Jack," Daniel let his hand reach up to remove his glasses, and then proceeded to rub his eyes tiredly.

"So you want me to help you with your technique," somehow making the innocent comment seem somewhat lewd. But that was a specialty of Jacks, and it hadn't changed with the age reversal. "That's fine, I don't mind. I can give you lessons in basic martials, and you can help me with this stupid unit on…" Jack paused to flip to the correct paper in his notebook, "Egyptian Funerary rights… right."

"You know Jack, I did win the fight," Daniel pointed out.

"But it took you too long and you reacted poorly to a female opponent, at first. You admitted it yourself Daniel. Would you have reacted that way to Carter?"

"Of course not! Sam's scary good!"

"And how do you think she got that good? I'll tell you," JJ interrupted before Daniel could say something snarky. "She got that good by being willing to punch out anything. Including women."

"Sam is a woman Jack, and I did punch her back after she punched me," Daniel was back to sulking, but resisted raising his hand to his nose. JJ didn't mention it, but he could still see the faint bruising around his eye and cheek.

"Wuss. And no, she's not a woman on the field, she's an officer. And I know I've explained this to you before space-monkey."

"Well, technically JJ..." he smirked.

"I know, _he_ explained it before, but that doesn't negate shit. Ask any AF, they'll say the same thing." JJ tipped his beer in Daniels general direction, he seemed to remember the bottle in his hand and took a sip.

"All right, we'll shelve that at this point. Now let me ask, what class are you taking that needs input on Funeral Rights?" Daniel held his free hand out for the notebook, then paged through. It was kind of funny. The main part of each page had daily notes. The edges had arrows pointing to names and little skulls and crossbones littered each name they'd successfully defeated. Next to Ba'al there was a figure with a handlebar mustache hanging by the neck to a creepy dead tree. His eyes were little X's.

"Ancient Cultures. It's a one time only class, the lady teaching it is kinda flakey, but cool enough. I haven't got much on her, but apparently she just decided to settle down for a couple of years, teach a few classes, take a break from digs and shit. Nothing pops on the Danger'O'Meter," JJ shrugged and took back his book.

"What's her name? I might know her," Daniel took a sip of his beer, and then looked down at the bottle with resigned comprehension on his face. "And who is sneaking you beer? You're still underage!"

"Her name is Dr. Amelia Smith-Whyte," JJ decided to take the fifth on the other question.

"Smithie got married?" Daniel laughed as JJ scowled.

"Do you know everybody?"

"Just about."

* * *

"Jack, I know I'm not going to be very popular for asking this of you, but did you have help writing this paper?"

"Mrs. Smith-Whyte, of course I did," JJ held up his hands to stall her. "I tried to get his babble out of my head, but it was kind of difficult as he was standing behind me and pointing out mistakes like, "JJ, these research books hardly deserve the name, At the end of the ritual of the breaking of the red jars the man depicted is dragging a broom behind him… but the captions clearly state that he is dragging a leg!" and ect… ect… talking about not leaving footprints so everything is clear… I really tried to stop listening to him. But I couldn't. Literally, it's impossible." JJ was obviously so irritated with himself that the smallish red-headed teacher found it impossible to dock points.

"Well, maybe next time you should tell your friend that while his input is appreciated, maybe you would learn more if he were to just read over your initial paper and offer corrections. After all, the point of these papers is so I can hear your voice. Not the annoying buzzing inside your head." With a small smile she handed back his essay, marked with an A and a question mark. At JJ's upturned eyebrow she chuckled. "Just to remind me to question your abundant knowledge, I know for a fact that the local library doesn't go that extensive. So, who's your annoying friend?"

JJ smiled, a sneaky smile that she wasn't sure she liked, as he tucked his paper into his bag. He seemed older and more… devilish, she nodded, thinking the appellation suited him somehow.

"He said to say hi, if you remembered him. Daniel Jackson." JJ stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels at her dumbfounded expression.

"Daniel Jackson," she clacked her mouth shut and glared at her student, who was looking down at her with a smug smile. "So what has the little Nile-wader been up to?"

"Nile-wader?" JJ knew of several nicknames Daniel had picked up over the years, his favorite still being his very own space-monkey, but this was a new one.

"You should probably get to class," his teacher scolded.

"Study-hall," JJ shrugged. "I've got all the time in the world."

* * *

"_So you jumped into the Nile to save a baby camel_."

Daniel groaned after he answered the phone, then leaned back to look at the receiver, shaking his head before bringing it back to his ear. "It looked like it was in trouble."

"_I gotta hand it to you space-monkey, even at seven you had to save everybody. I'm relieved to know it's not a recent development_."

"So she is the Smith I know then."

"_Yep, and she promised to tell me the meaning behind your Arabic name if I tell you that she's going to be at Starbucks between seven and eight tonight grading papers_."

"Jack, did you just set me up on a date?" Daniel glared at the phone, then jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"I didn't," the deeper voice behind his head snickered. Daniel could literally feel his cheeks turning red. When he heard the chuckle on the other end of the phone he felt the flush reach down his neck.

"_Hey, Abhay! You going or what_?"

* * *

JJ was still chuckling when he flipped his phone closed. He'd left a very uncomfortable Daniel Jackson trying to explain why his 17 year old counterpart had set him up with one of his teachers.

"Hey! JJ!" Carli flipped a braid over her shoulder and kicked him lightly in the shin as a hello.

"Ow! That could have hurt you know," JJ griped and pulled her braid in retaliation.

"Kids, kids, behave yourselves or I'll have to ground you," Jared chuckled.

"So, what'd the teacher want? The incredibly cute, young, available teacher?" Carli had it in her head that she was a Mrs. Robinson ever since she found out that Smith-Whyte was a widower.

"Turns out she knows one of my dad's friends from way back. I just set them up on a date," JJ smirked, particularly smug.

"Nice, which begs the question," Carli shrugged into her coat as Jack held open the front door for her. "Why?"

"Because it was funny?" JJ replied as he zipped up his bomber jacket. December in Colorado Springs, and they already had six inches of snow.

"Yeah, funny. By the way…" Carli began winding her long scarf around her neck. In very short time it looked like a fuzzy anaconda had taken residence over her mouth. Because of the snake wrap he missed the next muttered phrase.

"What was that?" he asked, tucking a finger into the mess and pulling it down to reveal her lips and a slight blush on her cheeks that could be attributed to the weather if she hadn't been trying to avoid eye contact.

"She wants to know what you're doing for Christmas break. She's all anxious about you spending time alone," Jared dodged as Carli swept her hand out to smack him.

"I just don't want you lonely and depressed is all! And I know you've got a whole bunch of people looking out for you, but they're all your dad's friends and I know you don't get along with him! I just want to make sure you have someone on Christmas! Is that so horrible?" She pouted, then ducked her mouth back under her fuzzy scarf while JJ tried to banish the instant warmth her concern settled into his stomach.

"No, that's not horrible at all," Jack didn't try to catch her gaze, he stared down at his hand, clutching his keys.

"Because, you know, it's just me and my dad on Christmas, and if you wanted to come over and keep me company while I bake… you know, cookies and stuff… it's kinda traditional in my family, and if you felt like it you could, you know, hang?"

"You know, Carli, I think…" JJ let the smile form. "I think I'd like that."

* * *

yep, i figured that on christmas either jj would have a very ackward day with jack and the team (which he is doing well with daniel and teal'c, but those two wouldn't find it hard to really settle with the younger guy as long as jj wasn't trying to assert that he is the original) or he could spend the day with his friends and celebrate with sg-1 however was more comfortable with them... i don't think i'm going to write christmas, but i'll tell you that i just pictured Jack stopping by on Christmas eve with a present or beer or something, Carter stopping in sometime during the break with Cassie to say hello, Daniel and Teal'c would probably spend the morning with him, but spend the bulk of the holiday at Jack's, especially if he was heading over to his own friends in the afternoon. Jack (SR) doesn't really strike me as the kind who would want his team over early in the morning that day. and JJ is still discovering who he is apart from Jack, so he would probably invite the guys over for breakfast or something, considering they don't have any family either. so jj would go to carli's in the afternoon and watch, and eat, her cookies.

i even have a back story for that, she used to back cookies with her mom on christmas and send gift baskets to the neighbors... it's something she just can't let go now that her mom is gone and she fully intends to do that for the rest of her life. kinda sad huh? but there it is. jared, of course, has a whole family. he's even got little brothers and a way older brother who is in college. i haven't fleshed them out yet, but i will eventually. so until next time!! enjoy!


End file.
